Conversations with Stockton

It's raining outside today, and I love it. The kids love it too, and were all excited when they woke up to see raindrops falling. More than once today Stockton has asked me:
"Mom, is it raining or Snow Man-ing?"
I have assured him time and time again that it is just raining, but still he keeps asking. It would be fun for it to be Snow Man-ing!

Bicycle woes and hurt pride

A few days ago I let the kids ride their bikes out front for a few minutes. Preston hit the back of Emma's scooter, and found an abrupt ending to his ride. I turned to see him writhing in pain on the dirty, nasty black top. It was a small fall, but I think he was needing some extra attention that day, and this was the end result.

I'm not kidding you when I say, there were no bruises, not blood, no scratches. Only his hands and elbows would have been dirty had we been able to keep it at just the fall. Instead, he rolled around for a few minutes to get good and dirty.

This is just what happens when a boy falls off his bike when he is being silly and doing dumb things, and would like to get someone in trouble for it rather than admit that he did it to himself.

One shower, and one load of laundry later, it was as if nothing had happened. I love having boys, but I fear this is just the beginning of many more dirt covered days.

What Happens When...

You put your 3 year old on the toilet and then forget about him? Stockton was all potty trained, but as it goes, we had a few days with some issues! When he would pee his pants I would make him have a time out of sorts sitting on the potty. I don't know if it worked or not, but we aren't having problems anymore, so I'll take it. However, on one occasion, I put him there, and then conveniently forgot about him. (I know, some Mom right?) He was there for probably 8-10 minutes, which is like a year in 3 year old time. When I remembered, I went into the bathroom and this is what I found.
I didn't take more than one picture because I tried to get video of it. He was doing the whole bob and jerk thing. It shouldn't have been funny, but we laughed anyway! To make matters worse, when he got off the potty, one of his legs had fallen asleep, so he couldn't even walk.

I put the video on, but I don't know how to turn it. I guess I'll be passing on the Mother of the Year award again!

Happy Birthday Stockton

What do I say about this boy? Where do I even begin? Stockton is pure joy, or pure frustration depending on when you catch him! Okay, I guess I should clarify, as a mother, trying to teach and train him, I spend a lot (I mean A LOT) of time frustrated, but the population at large would probably just spend all their time laughing at him. He's funny. Even when he's being naughty, he's funny. It is so infuriating! All I want to do is spank him, but I can't stop laughing long enough to get it done! Everywhere we go, he wins the hearts of any that take the time to know him! I hate how fast they grow and how fast they change. Here are some of the things I can't stand to forget about our little man!

• He talks to you like you are an equal, not that he thinks you are three also, but that he thinks he is 28 also.
  He REFUSED to learn his colors. No really, for a while there, I was actually wondering if he was color blind. He would always say Green if you asked him what color something was. Then, out of the blue, from nowhere, on his birthday he just up and told me what all the colors were while playing a game of Candy land. I was blown away. At this point, I think he knew the colors all along, and just wanted to see how long he could keep me frustrated. (Seriously people, when I went in for his well child visit with the pediatrician, I was going to ask about having him tested for color-blindness, if there is such a test!)
• This kid plays the meanest air guitar ever! We are nerds and love to play air band while driving in the car. We each pick an instrument and play our souls out to the music on the radio. Stockton really enjoys this activity, and any time there is music playing he'll say "you be drums, I be Guitar" and proceed to jam out! I love it! I need to get some pictures, or better yet some video.
• Along the same lines, he LOVES to dance! One of our favorite shows is So You Think You Can Dance. The kids love it too (after it's been pre-screened by mom), and any time it was on, he was dancing. He can't listen to music without busting out some kind of a move. He always has a leg or something going, but sometimes you get full body action and that is priceless!
• He thinks he's 7. No, really, ask him, and he'll tell you, he's 7. He truly can't understand why he isn't allowed to do all of the things his big brother and sister get to do. He wants to go to school. He wants to ride Preston's bike (not just a big boy bike, but Preston's bike, which is taller than he is), and can't understand why I won't let him.
• He is potty trained! This is a good thing for the mom, and probably more of a milestone for me than for him, but I'm documenting it anyway. We don't have night time down yet, but I'll take it!
  
  
• He LOVE LOVE LOVES nursery, and especially Sister Seager. I need to take a picture of him with his AMAZING nursery teachers. They really are the greatest. From the time we walk into Sacrament meeting he is looking for Sister Seager. When he finds them before the meeting begins, he spend the entire hour trying to see them again, and says "Mom, thews Sisto Seago." When he doesn't find them before the meeting, he spends the entire hour trying to find them, and then I get "Mom, Whews Sisto Seago?". It will be a sad day when they get released. Everyone keeps asking if I'm bummed that he has an entire year left of Nursery, but he loves is, so I do too! (Really, who wouldn't love snack time, coloring, toys, and bubbles for an entire 2 hours from people that are way more entertaining Mom!!)
• He can count to 14
• He loves to eat (shocking right?)
• His favorite time of day is when it is time to get the kids from school. You would think it had been a week since he saw them rather than just a few hours! He yells their names and wraps his arms around their little necks! I LOVE IT!
• He is sneaky, and if you can't find him, you can bet his is looking for something to eat in the pantry!

He loves horses. If he sees one on a movie, you are going to hear about it for the next 15 minutes or more! Needless to say, he adores the Man from Snowy River movies.

There are just so many things that I want to capture about him. I wish I would have had a blog when the others were little. I have loved starting on my blog book and reading over the adventures of the last year. There are so many details that I captured that I would have forgotten otherwise!

Stockton, we love you! Happy Birthday! I can't wait for all the adventures and laughs and tears that 3 will bring!

Emma the Artist

Emma is the little artist in our family. She loves to create and draw and color. Her latest fascination is books. She loves to maker her own little books. She will take paper, glue it together on one side, and then create her own little book. She has been doing this for about a year now. Up until now, she would draw the pictures and then draw squiggly lines across the pages for the words. We have now convinced her that she doesn't have to spell every word perfectly in order to start writing. We have been encouraging her to do her best sounding out the words, and that it would be perfect. Apparently she's been listening because I found this little beauty on my bed this morning.

Translations:

Emma's Book

I lost two teeth
The ones that I lost

Were my front ones

I love that my teeth have fallen out

The End

Clearly she has come to terms with her missing teeth! I love Emma. She is beautiful and creative. She loves things that are beautiful, and she loves to make others happy. She writes and draws and creates things for others. Nothing makes her happier than to draw a picture for one of us, or write us a letter, seal it up in an envelope and "mail" it to us (usually she puts them on our pillows, or occasionally inside a book I'm reading). She smiles from ear to ear when we thank her for our latest gift. She is very thoughtful and concerned for the feelings of others. What a great example I have been given! I love you Emma. Thank you for making my world a more beautiful place.

A Coach's Wife!

I'm thinking I never really blogged about Stuart's new opportunity, so here goes! Stuart was offered the head coaching spot for the freshman boy's team at Sierra Vista High School here in Las Vegas, and of course he took it. It has been really great for him. It has given him that extra push he needed to keep trudging thorough all the hoops he has been asked to jump thorough on his way to a new career! He is loving that he gets to teach and talk about basketball for a few hours each day, and he really enjoys the time he is spending with the boys. He has lots to teach them about responsibility and commitment, but he is certainly the man for the job.
This new opportunity has brought more change to our family. We are getting used to the new schedule, and are learning what it will mean to have a coach for a dad/husband. It will take some getting used to, but we'll all get there. Preston loves it, because he gets to go to practice and hang out with dad at the gym. The rest of us are still trying . It also meant that most of Christmas break was spent at Basketball tournaments. The week after Christmas he went with the varsity team to a tournament in Tucson AZ. Instead of hanging out at home, the kids and I packed up to go visit some friends and family in Utah. We started our journey off at Justine's house. We spent time playing with the kids, and the kids tried to enjoy the snow. Unfortunately, it was just too deep to have too much fun in, but we got some good pictures.

Here is Stockton after one of his many face plants! He would take a step or two, and then fall. It was hilarious!
Emma is always the diva, and even finds time to pose when it is 17 degrees out and the snow is falling.

Here are Preston and Wylie! They had a lot of fun together!

At one point Stockton got himself clear into the back yard, but then he got stuck. I was watching from inside the house, and after about 5 minutes I realized that he hadn't moved a muscle, and was stuck. Preston and Wylie were kind enough to save him from himself! The put him on the sled and pulled him back to safety. They kept dumping him out as they went, but he thought it was great!

And last, but certainly not least, here is my picture of "Randy". This picture makes me laugh and think about "A Christmas Story".

While we were there, I also got to spend some time with my old college roommate Sarah, and here three girls (who I neglected to get a picture of). It was so fun to visit and catch up and remember those wonderful and crazy times in our lives!

After a few days there, we headed up to Saratoga Springs to spend New Years with Uncle David, Aunt Chari, Cavan, Ben, Brae, Olivia, and Robert. Uncle Brad, Aunt Whitney, Aunt Kristen, and Zach joined us on New Years Eve, and we partied till after the ball dropped. We had a great time playing games and hanging out. I'm hoping to get some pictures from Aunt T. The kids had SOOOOOO much fun playing together. It was awesome for them to get to spend that time together. Olivia was happy to have another girl around and she and Emma spent most of the time locked away in her room playing make up and pretend. Preston's favorite activity was sledding down their front yard, and Stockton was the entertainment (as always)! We love you guys! Thanks for letting us come and spend the Holidays with you!

Let the war begin!

As I said, Preston got new Nerf blasters for Christmas, bringing our total to 4. He and Stuart also received new bullets in their stockings. This of course, prompted a war for Christmas morning. Stuart, Jeff, Preston and Emma played for well over an hour. The house was literally a war zone with bullets flying everywhere. Anywhere you went there was someone else taking cover or reloading, or strategizing their next move. I loved it. I of course snuck up to my room to enjoy my new cook book while the troops were busy! Here are some pictures of their fun!

Uncle Jeff taking cover!

Don't forget who the biggest kid of them all is!

Look at the concentration!

Preston Love love loved having his uncle Jeff here to play war with. It was awesome! Aren't they cute?

P.S. Here is a picture of Uncle Jeff and Stockton playing with the new Hot Wheels track. I love it!

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. I love the entire month of December. It is filled with joy and great music, and parties and awesome food! Who can argue with that? There were Christmas concerts, and Christmas parties. There was visiting with family and friends, and just enjoying the time we had together. We were lucky enough to have Stuart's younger brother Jeff with us for Christmas. It was awesome! He is in the army stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but he got some leave for the holidays and we were delighted to have him share some of it with us. He told us about many of the new adventures that he is having, and shared some great stories. It was really cool to see how he has grown and changed over the last year or so since we saw him last. Thanks for coming Jeff! We loved having you!

I had a special request this year for the big guy in red. We were in need of new games, so that is what he brought. We all got games this year, and we have had a blast learning to play them all. In other loot...

This was a good year for Preston. He received some spy gear, some new Nerf blasters (a post about the resulting war to follow), and the new Night at the Museum movie. He also got a science kit from his aunt T and uncle Jeff.

Here is Stockton's response to getting the movie Up in his stocking. He promptly put it down, and did the "Caw Caw Grrrrrr" from the movie. TOOO Funny. He had us all rolling for hours! Other than that, he got a new sword, a scooter, a Hot Wheels dinosaur track, and some Moon Sand from Anut Kristen and uncle Jeff.This year Emma got a new scooter, and Easy Bake oven, some new lip gloss and a movie. Aunt Kristen and uncle Jeff also got her a new purse and some make up to go in it.

See, I really was there! It isn't very often that I'm not the one behind the camera, but I promise, I am there!

This was the first year we had the kids earn money to spend on each other. It was GREAT for so many reasons. One of those reasons is that the kids were BEGGING to do extra chores all month long so that they could earn more money. I loved it. I hardly did any laundry the entire month for all the extra help I had. They also LOVED getting to go to the store and shop for each other. The part where they now had a secret that they had to keep from each other was tough, and it almost killed Emma to not tell her brother for a whole 2 days. (I was smart enough to wait until the 23rd to take her shopping.) As you can see from this picture, it worked wonderfully! Any moment when these two aren't fighting is a good moment. Emma got Preston a package of 1500 marbles (heaven help me) and Preston got Emma her own apron and chef's had to wear when she helps out in the kitchen.

We had a wonderful holiday season and only wish we could have had more time to spend with each member of our family. Reality really bites sometimes. We missed you Mom and Dad Humes, and Mom and Grandpa John.!

Missing Teeth

2009 was the year for teeth to fall out at our house. We lost a total of 7! Preston started off the year, and Emma is ending it! Her first tooth came out on December 4th. It had been hanging in there for quite some time, and she REFUSED to let me pull it-that was until Stockton jumped on her head and her tooth got shoved into its neighbor. At this point her vanity took over and she decided it would be better to have it gone than to have it sitting sideways in her mouth.

There were tears, and emotion running over, but once she got a chance to check herself out in the mirror and see that she really WAS still cute, even with a missing tooth, all was well. She also didn't mind the $$ that the tooth fairy brought.

See, here is our proof that little girls really are still beautiful with missing teeth! Oh, and tooth #2 came out just before Christmas!